A doctor says respiratory illnesses are on the rise in Senglea. Mark Laurence Zammit meets the people living by a shipyard, who are filming their health fears.
When Joseph Tonna began his medical practice nearly 40 years ago in Senglea, he would rarely encounter a case of asthma.
“Nowadays I see a wheezing patient almost every day,” the veteran doctor remarks – a situation he at least partially attributes to the ships that loom over the tiny town.
There is no scientific evidence to prove a link between residents’ current health problems and the black smoke that puffs year-round from the funnels of the massive vessels docked for repair at Palumbo Shipyard.
But the people who live in the area and who kept a video diary last year for Times of Malta, are worried.
“They never stop. Some people are considering leaving and going to live someplace else, because it’s not normal to live like this,” one resident can be heard saying while filming a cruise liner emitting black fumes.
“I cannot even imagine what we’re inhaling here,” said another. “How can we even open our windows at night?”
A third resident says a lot of children in her street suffer from respiratory problems.
“I don’t think this is a normal situation, to have three ships emitting black smoke in our port.”
Their long-running fears were heightened in 2020, when Geneva-based giant cruise ship company MSC bought a 50 per cent stake in the shipyard, allowing it to service and conduct maintenance on its leisure cruise vessels at the yard in Cospicua.
Residents, who form part of a group called Azzjoni: Tuna Artna Lura (Action: Give us Back Our Land), raised concerns at the time about the lack of information about the deal and about lack of pollution regulations in the harbour area.
Last year, Danish scientist Kare Press-Kristensen recorded air pollution levels in the neighbouring harbours of Valletta and Senglea for a study commissioned by Birdlife Malta.
High pollution
His results revealed that pollution was 100-200 times higher than the levels expected in areas not exposed to any pollution sources.
I don’t think this is a normal situation, to have three ships emitting black smoke in our port- resident
The air was found to have a high concentration of ultrafine particles during the time that ships, cruise liners and other vessels are transiting the Grand Harbour.
After watching footage of the ships’ emissions, respiratory illness consultant Martin Balzan said it was extremely worrying but pointed out that cars remain the largest contributor to the increase in respiratory illnesses in Malta.
“Particles that come out of the funnels of fuming ships are very harmful and we need to stop the pollution at source as soon as we can, but we don’t have statistics confirming that the rise in respiratory illnesses is caused by cruise liner pollution,” he said.
“Cars remain the largest culprit, and by far.”
Palumbo: ‘Visible smoke is vapour, not fumes’
Palumbo, meanwhile, assured residents that it takes environmental matters seriously.
It said all vessels switch off their main engines completely during repair works, but “some smaller systems remain in operation to accommodate the crew on board the ship, in line with international maritime regulations”.
It also said the visible smoke is vapour, and not fumes, because all MSC cruise liners have been refitted with a fuel-cleaning system of scrubbers that meets 2020 environmental shipping rules.
“Scrubbers work by showering seawater, which in turn converts emissions from a gaseous to a more manageable aqueous state, so any smoke you see emerging from the funnels is vapour, and not fumes,” a Palumbo Shipyard spokesperson said.
Any smoke you see… is vapour, and not fumes- Palumbo spokeperson
“Also, the shipyard has no marine combustion machinery whatsoever generating fumes.”
A spokesperson said the Italian company, which has a 30-year concession to run the shipyard, “takes environmental matters seriously”, and recently installed PV panels that “have seen the yard cut down more 100 tons of CO2 emissions in one year”.
Glen Bedingfield, Chairman for the Foundation for Cottonera and MP for the area, said he has raised the issues concerning residents "multiple times with the relevant authorties".
He said they are compounded by the issue of noise pollution.
"The engines of ships remain switched on and make a lot of noise, especially during the night. Therefore, I look forward to seeing the shore-to-ship system functioning."
Plan to cut pollution
He is referring to the government's plan to supply berthed ships with electricity to cut emissions from running engines.
In 2020, Infrastructure Malta launched the Grand Harbour Clean Air Project, a €50 million shoreside electricity project that aims to cut over 90 per cent of air pollution that cruise liners and cargo ships produce when visiting the Grand Harbour.
Shore-to-ship power facilities will allow cruise liners to switch off their gas or HFO-fired engines and plug in to shoreside electricity points. Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg announced earlier this month that the first phase of this project has reached the halfway stage.
But, when asked about the situation earlier this week, Borg could not say whether there are plans to cut down on pollution until the facility is up and running.
“We have already laid many kilometres of cables at Palumbo. Now we need to provide the supply,” said Infrastructure Malta CEO Frederick Azzopardi, who says they are “moving as fast as they can”.
Palumbo Shipyard said that its current infrastructure already provides shore-to-ship services to vessels with a smaller electrical demand and is collaborating with the government on the shore-to-ship initiative.
The company said that the cable laying within the shipyard has already been completed.
But Senglea residents are not prepared to breathe potentially toxic fumes for another two years.
“As a doctor, I find this situation unacceptable,” says Tonna. “The citizens of Cottonera, we’re not second-class citizens.”
And as one of those citizens points out, it is not just their problem.
“The pollution doesn’t remain here with us. It spreads all over Malta.”